Author Archives: FAE Website Editors

Citation & Referencing

There are several accepted formats for essays and research papers used by university students and professional academic writers, and each has been developed to meet the needs of academic writers in particular fields of study and research, e.g., the social sciences, humanities, or science and engineering (STEM) fields. The styles are named after the organizations which have developed and maintain the standard formats (see the list of styles used by FAE instructors/courses below).

A very important aspect of each style is the format used to present information about the published sources and evidence used in the paper, which might include quotations/citations of another author’s words or summary-paraphrase of their ideas and evidence. The format for referring to sources in this way will usually include a reference list or bibliography at the end of a document (end-text referencing) and a shorthand or footnoted way to refer to that list at the relevant points in the flow of the writing (in-text referencing). The styles may also include editorial manuals that specify the format of other parts of the paper, such as page layout, number formats, and even tone/register.

Your FAE instructor will let you know which of the academic styles to use in your essays and papers. The resources below will help you to learn more about these styles. Always check your own instructor’s task requirements carefully, however, for the details of how to apply the required style.

Although individual access to the official handbooks for the styles is generally via a paid service, you can often find helpful resources and learning aids on the official homepage of each style. The Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) provides one of the best-maintained and most student-friendly guides to all the major citation and referencing styles (see the links below), and includes sample papers in each format.

Citation and Referencing Styles

APA (American Psychological Association)

The APA style for social sciences uses concise parenthetical in-text references (AKA, “Harvard”/”Turabian” format) that include the author-surname(s) and year of publication and an end-text reference list in alphabetical order.

Purdue OWL APA guide: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/apa_style/apa_style_introduction.html
APA website – tutorials and webinars: https://apastyle.apa.org/instructional-aids/tutorials-webinars

MLA (Modern Language Association)

The MLA style for social sciences uses concise in-sentence and parenthetical in-text references that include the author-surname(s) and an end-text works cited list in alphabetical order.

Purdue OWL MLA guide: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/mla_style/mla_formatting_and_style_guide/mla_formatting_and_style_guide.html
MLA website – sample papers: https://style.mla.org/sample-papers/

Chicago Manual of Style (CMoS/Chicago)

The Chicago style comes in two different types:

a “notes and bibliography” style for humanities papers using detailed in-text footnote references which can be abbreviated after the first mention of the source and a detailed end-text bibliography
an “author-date” style (AKA, “Harvard”/”Turabian” format) for social sciences with concise parenthetical in-text references including the author surname(s) and date of publication and a reference list in alphabetical order.

Purdue OWL Chicago guide: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/chicago_manual_17th_edition/cmos_formatting_and_style_guide/chicago_manual_of_style_17th_edition.html
Chicago website – a very useful “quick guide” to both the “notes & bibliography” and “author-date” styles: https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html

IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)

The IEEE style for STEM subjects uses parenthetical in-text references that include the number of the source in order of appearance/use in the text and an end-text reference list in the same order.

Purdue OWL IEEE guide: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/research_and_citation/ieee_style/ieee_overview.html
IEEE website – a very complete detailed guide for editors and authors of IEEE-style papers: https://ieeeauthorcenter.ieee.org/wp-content/uploads/IEEE-Reference-Guide.pdf
IEEE website – a guide to the IEEE referencing style only: http://journals.ieeeauthorcenter.ieee.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/IEEE-Reference-Guide-Online-v.04-20-2021.pdf
A short sample paper in IEE page and referencing format – hosted by Amity University: https://amity.edu/aiit/aicai2019/files/ieee-format.pdf

Academic Writing: Essays and Research Papers

Developing as an academic writer in English involves learning to structure, support and defend a coherent and persuasive argument, to control the tone, register and style of your writing so it is efficient and accessible, to use a range of advanced and conceptual vocabulary, and to apply the principles of source attribution and referencing common across academic disciplines.

There is a lot of advice and lessons online on the subskills you will need to develop to improve as an academic writer and on how to write different “types” of essays. Please remember, however, that such advice may be of varying quality or relevance to the writing task your instructor has set for you. In your FAE class, the writing tasks will be “argument-led” or “argument driven”, and you might also see this described as “critical”, “evaluative”, or “analytical” writing.

As well as exploring the advice available at the links below, make sure you understand your instructor’s task requirements and read any instructions provided though the course Moodle page very carefully.

Argument-led Essays

Advice from the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL) website on how to write the different sections of an “argument” paper: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/common_writing_assignments/argument_papers/index.html
The “Writing” section of Andy Gillet’s Using English for Academic Purposes (UEfAP) website (have a look at “Features” and “Genres” and “Reporting” for a start): http://www.uefap.com/writing/writfram.htm
Harvard Faculty Explain Analytical Writing – an overview of the purpose and form of academic writing from the Harvard Writes initiative, including reading exercises drawn from a range of subject areas. This resource is for both advanced students and professional academic writers, like faculty: https://www.harvardwrites.com/

Arguments and Critical Thinking

Purdue University’s Online Writing Lab (OWL) introduction to writing logical arguments: https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/logic_in_argumentative_writing/index.html
Also from Purdue’s OWL, brief historical overview of useful models of argument for college/university writing (classical, Toulmin, Rogerian):
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/academic_writing/historical_perspectives_on_argumentation/classical_argument.html
Fun introductions to spotting and classifying faulty claims and reasoning by The School of Thought non-profit initiative: yourlogicalfallacyis.com (on fallacies) and yourbias.is (on cognitive bias)

Academic Presentations

During your undergraduate education at Bilkent, you will often be asked to present your semester projects to your classmates and your instructor. In English classes in particular, a lot of the grade will depend on your presentation and communication skills as much as on the content of the project you are presenting.

Academic presentations have different structural and rhetorical requirements from other talks you may have seen, such as YouTube videos or TED talks. The links below will help you to understand these requirements.

Tanya Golash-Boza, Associate Professor Of Sociology, University Of California gives advice on how to give a “fabulous” academic presentation: https://www.wiley.com/network/researchers/promoting-your-article/6-tips-for-giving-a-fabulous-academic-presentation

Aditi Javheri from the Polytechnic University English Language Center gives an overview of how to make your presentation performance both academic and engaging (see video below):

Yan Overfield Shaw from the FAE program has also written some resources to help students prepare for and practice an outstanding academic presentation in English:
- Creating content:
  http://staff.bilkent.edu.tr/yoverfieldshaw/presenting-discussing/presentations-creating-content/
- Effective delivery:
  http://staff.bilkent.edu.tr/yoverfieldshaw/presenting-discussing/presentations-effective-delivery/
- Q&A sessions:
  http://staff.bilkent.edu.tr/yoverfieldshaw/presenting-discussing/qa-sessions/

ENG Program

Bilkent University Academic English Program